


Coming Home

by iheartpeace8073



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, M/M, Oops, Post-Canon, like if there were to be one more episode ever, post-12x23 basically, show ending, spoilers in the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 17:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10948854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iheartpeace8073/pseuds/iheartpeace8073
Summary: They did not, as Dean had hoped, go out in a blaze of glory.





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Like everyone else, the season 12 finale messed me up, so I wrote my version of the show ending (@spn writers, i you wanna use this, hmu we can work it out). Kinda envisioned this more as a screenplay than prose but I tried to make it work in text.

They did not, as Dean had hoped, go out in a blaze of glory.

Instead, Sam and Dean Winchester grew old. Their hair grayed, their knees ached, the lines on their faces grew more pronounced. They kept hunting, of course, but there came a day when they realized they could no longer keep up, when even the great Winchesters were a liability out in the field. So they hung up their guns and manned the phones instead, passed on knowledge to young hunters and grew the Men of Letters library. In short, they retired.

They offered the bunker as a refuge for hunters, a place to stop over or gain information or hear stories about the apocalypse—though not from the Winchesters themselves, because some things would always be too painful to talk about.

They held the hunting community together for years, became everyone’s father or grandfather or uncle or confidant. They did what they did best: they kept going.

Being a Winchester came with special privileges, one of which arrived on a crisp autumn day just past Sam’s sixtieth birthday. Sam and Dean sat in the kitchen of the bunker, sipping coffee and reading news articles as they’d done for the past several decades, when a change came to their routine in the form of a grim-faced, gaunt man. He cleared his throat for their attention and ignored their startled glances. He simply looked each brother in the eye and said, “It’s time for you boys to rest.”

In years prior, they might have argued or fought, but they were tired. They had done much for the world, all of it thankless, and they had seen the futility of trying to cheat Death too many times. So when Death told them it was time to go… they went.

………………………

Heaven was nothing like the last time they’d been there. Though they each sat through the highlights of their lives, those moments seemed hollow imitations of the real thing. Watching loved ones laugh and smile, people they hadn’t seen in decades, was almost too painful to bear. They were relieved when their highlight reels ended and they found themselves in the bunker.

It seemed only natural that they’d end up there for eternity, being that they’d lived there for almost forty years. Only now, it seemed too empty without the company of other hunters, and for the first time, they started to regret going with Death.

“Is this it?” Dean asked, glancing around the war room. “An empty bunker for eternity with only you for company? Jesus, that’s depressing.” He was at least pleased to note that Sam looked thirty again, youthful and vibrant, and his own bad knee was no longer aching, so he guessed he was young again as well.

Sam snorted. “Pretty sure taking the Lord’s name in vain is still frowned upon, even when you’re dead. At least we’re here and not… somewhere else.” Dean huffed in agreement and they turned to explore when an impatient voice called out from the balcony.

“Of course this isn’t it, guys. What kind of god do you take me for?”

Sam and Dean whipped around to see Chuck smiling down at them. He looked exactly as he had last they’d seen him thirty years prior, but the proud grin on his face was new. He descended the stairs, smiling all the while, and at the bottom stated, “Sam, Dean, it’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Chuck,” they replied, though not without a slight hesitation on Dean’s part.

Chuck beamed. “I am so proud of you boys. You’re heroes. You’re the Winchesters! You have made such a difference in this world and saved so many lives. You deserve rest, and you deserve recompense for the wrongs I did you. So this bunker is my gift to you.” He paused here, as though expecting them to thank him. Sam hastily uttered his thanks, but maintained a look of confusion that mirrored the expression on his brother’s face. Chuck sighed before continuing. “An eternity alone in this bunker wouldn’t be a reward for you guys, it would be cruel. So you’re not alone…nor are you actually technically in your heavens right now.”

Sam and Dean shared a glance. “Then where are we?” Dean demanded.

Chuck smiled knowingly. “The hallway, technically. Your hallway. Your family’s hallway. They’re all here, everyone you’ve ever known and loved, waiting for you. Just a little extra tinkering on my part, and bam! All the individual heavens of all your friends and family get connected to this bunker instead of a regular hallway. Figured this is home to most of you. So, this is the hallway now, but it’s also the common area. And man, is it about to get crowded.”

At that declaration, they heard a door slam and scores of feet racing around the bunker. Before they could truly wrap their brains around what Chuck had said, Dean was tackled by a red-headed menace who hugged him tight enough to hurt. “Charlie!” he cried, picking her up and spinning her around. The minute her feet hit the ground, she was grabbing Sam. “Sup, bitches!” Their faces split into identical huge grins, and Dean felt his eyes begin to water.

A louder stampede of feet turned their attention toward the library, where over a dozen people were approaching with matching smiles. They received hugs from friends they hadn’t seen in years: from Kevin and his mother, from Jo and Ellen, from Jody and Donna and Victor Henriksen of all people, from Pastor Jim and Missouri Moseley and so many faces they never imagined they’d see again. At long last, Bobby gave them each a gruff pat on the back before pulling them into a hug and whispering, “It’s about time, ya idgits.”

Past Bobby, their parents stood together. It had been so long since they’d seen their father, and they had no idea how their mother had gotten here, but they opened their arms to embrace them all the same. There would be time later to talk, and to apologize and reconcile, but for now, they could enjoy being a family again, surrounded by the family they’d picked up on the way.

……………………

Chuck watched the Winchesters reunite with their friends and family with the same soft smile on his face. After the last hugs had been distributed, he made his way towards Dean and Sam as the crowd parted respectfully around him. He touched both their arms get their attention and said, “We’re not quite done yet.”

“I hope not,” Dean said. “Where’s Cas?”

Chuck looked down at that. “This part of Heaven is for humans, Dean.”

Dean looked as though he’d been slapped. He opened his mouth as though to reply, but he choked and looked away. His jaw twitched and it broke Sam’s heart to watch his older brother fight back tears. “Chuck…” Sam began, only to be interrupted.

“Let me take you to your individual heavens now! The doors are your old bedrooms, so just come with me.”

As they walked, Dean still silent and emotional, Chuck hesitantly began to speak.

“Did you know every single person gets their own heaven? Like every one? It’s a lot of work actually, but fortunately we won’t exactly run out of space.”

Sam got the impression he was nervous.  
“So anyway, we build heavens for every new arrival, unless, of course, their soulmate is already here. Soulmates are pretty rare, actually. Most humans don’t have them. You know Jimmy and Amelia Novak, obviously, and your parents were literally destined for each other, but there’s a reason they’re rare. The loss of a soulmate is too much for most humans to bear—”

He cut off at Dean’s sharp look, abashed by the reminder that they knew too well what half of a soulmate pair looked like after that loss. Chuck took a deep breath, seeming to re-center himself, before stopping in the middle of the hall and regarding them seriously.

“You two have suffered so much, and I wasn’t there to fix it. Few have had to endure trials like you have, and none have ever carried on like you. You’re remarkable, honestly. But that doesn’t justify how difficult I allowed your lives to be, and for all that you’ve suffered, I am truly sorry. But perhaps what I most regret is that you were unable to spend anywhere near enough time on Earth with your soulmates.”

Sam and Dean glanced at each other in surprise before returning to Chuck. “Our soulmates?” Dean asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, of course you guys have soulmates. You’re only the two most important humans in history… kind of makes sense that your love lives would be important too.” While Sam swallowed nervously as his mind raced, Dean’s had gone rather still. It was too much to hope, and yet… he did.

As Chuck watched this information set in, he approached Sam’s bedroom door. There was a new plaque on the door beneath the Aquarian star, with two lines of text too small to read from their position. Part of Sam was tempted to look, and the other part wanted to run away.

“You ready, Sam?”

Sam swallowed and nodded quickly. Chuck snapped and the door swung open, revealing not Sam’s bedroom, but what looked like the first floor of a small house. A woman had her back to them as she stood over what appeared to be the stove, cooking something that smelled like perfection to Sam. He slowly walked into the house, eyes fixed on the woman in front of him as tears slowly filled his eyes. Suddenly, she turned around, and as their eyes met, she beamed and set down the pan in her hands.

“Hi, Sam,” she said as her hands elegantly signed his name.

Sam broke. He raced towards Eileen and wrapped her in a hug as they both cried. She pulled back to whisper, “You’re home,” and Sam, too overcome to speak, simply nodded before crushing her in another hug.

Dean felt himself getting teary-eyed as well at his brother’s happiness. He glanced over at Chuck, who was smiling softly. Chuck met his eyes and said, “I think it’s time for us to bow out. They deserve some time together.”

Dean nodded his assent and with one more quick look at his brother, followed Chuck out of the room. Chuck closed the door behind him and looked up at Dean with the widest grin he’d seen yet from the man.

“Now this one, I’m really excited for,” he said as he motioned Dean down the hall.

“You know Dean, I tried to write love stories for you. Again and again, I’d write this beautiful, amazing woman into your life, and yet, your heart was never in it. So eventually… I’m ashamed to admit that I gave up.”

Dean’s stomach sank. Maybe there was no one sharing his heaven with him after all?

Chuck put a reassuring hand on his arm before continuing: “And I’m glad I did, because I couldn’t have written a better story if I’d tried. I mean, an angel falling in love with a human? Falling in love, and falling from grace? You can’t make this stuff up. It just... happened.” Dean’s head jerked up and he stared at Chuck in disbelief.

Chuck laughed at the expression on Dean’s face. “Come on, Dean. You’ve always written your own story, shredded up my playbook and made a better one. Why would your soulmate be any different?”

They’d reached Dean’s door, and seeming to sense that Dean would be unable to believe him until he’d seen his heaven for himself, Chuck waved the door open and all but pushed Dean inside. Dean, still as a statue, regarded Chuck with wide eyes. Chuck simply winked, and as he shut the door, he said seriously, “Go get ‘em, champ. He’s been waiting for you for a long time.”

Dean was left staring at the back of his door before the sound of footsteps alerted him to a new arrival. He whipped around and finally, after thirty long years, met his angel’s eyes. Everything was the same as he’d remembered, as he’d dreamed about for years, from his sensible black shoes to his rumpled trench coat and messy hair. His angel, his Cas. Slowly, a grin spread across his face and tears sprang again to his eyes. He was here, they were together. Cas’s expression mirrored his, and when Cas spoke, it finally hit him that he was in Heaven.

“Hello, Dean.”


End file.
